Lake Huron beach goers could swim at their own risk in Sanilac County. Health officials don't have enough money to test water quality.

You can't say state government doesn't care whether Sanilac County can test its beaches for E.coli this year. Lansing cares - just not enough.

Thanks to state lawmakers, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is providing aid for Sanilac County beach testing. Part of a $50,000 supplement the Legislature is giving Great Lakes counties to test their beaches this year, the money doesn't go very far - especially in Sanilac County's case.

The county's health department still is unable to conduct beach testing - and that belies the state's commitment to water quality.

Beach testing has become a problem for our Great Lakes state. It started in Washington when the Environmental Protection Agency gave Michigan about $152,000 for 2014, a considerable cut from the $260,000 in 2013.

Instead of making the most of the beach-testing money Michigan received, state lawmakers decided to assign about $100,000 for beach testing experiments at Lake St. Clair in Macomb County.

St. Clair County is getting about $13,000 - enough to test its beaches - but Sanilac County was left out completely. Lake Huron comprises the county's entire eastern shore.

It made no sense to leave Sanilac out in the cold. So last week, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced county health departments with Great Lakes beaches would receive more money.

Sanilac's share? $1,501.

Steve Aguinaga, Sanilac County environmental health director, said the modest aid is not enough even to get testing started.

"The state grant is not enough to even allow us to begin to do any lengthy testing or to hire someone to test the beaches," Aguinaga said. "We will likely not be testing this year."

State lawmakers will argue the additional $50,000 is better than nothing, but tell that to Sanilac County. Apparently, water quality at its beaches just isn't a priority as far as Lansing is concerned.

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Lawmakers fail Sanilac County again

You can't say state government doesn't care whether Sanilac County can test its beaches for E.coli this year. Lansing cares ? just not enough.